Abraham Staats 1618 to 1694
From: https://www.geni.com/people/Dr-Major-Abraham-Staats/6000000000954750502
From: http://www.staats-genealogy.org/articles/abram-staes-progenitor-of-the-staats-family-of-albany/keeping-staatses-and-abrahams-in-order
For background information on the Staats Family and allied families, refer to Genealogy of the Staats Family, Harold Staats, 1921: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2957794:61157?ftm=1
Refer also to the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Staats
For information on the Staats house, refer to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staats_House_(Stockport,_New_York),
and https://q1057.com/oldest-house-in-upstate-new-york-is-almost-400-years-old/
Abraham (Abram) Staats was born in the Netherlands about 1618. His parents were Isaac Staats and Sara Lauwers of Amsterdam.
In 1635, Abram completed, at the age of fifteen, training as a surgeon-apprentice with Amsterdam surgeon Jan Eckius. According to one source, Staats subsequently served as a ship’s surgeon in the Netherlands. In 1642 Abraham was registered as a surgeon.
In 1642, surgeon Jan Dircsz Brim recommended Staats as a “well-trained surgeon” to Kiliaen van Rensselaer, a director of the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch West India Company. The West India Company and, in particular, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, was looking to invigorate development in the Fort Orange region of the North (Hudson) River with an infusion of settlers. On February 1, 1642, van Rensselaer offered Abram a contract with exclusive right to be surgeon at Fort Orange for the West India Company for a period of six years, from 1642 to 1648, and allowed him to maintain the right to conduct mercantile activities within the company’s rules.
Abraham Staats married Catharina (Tryntie) Jochemse Wessels on 26 January 1642 in Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands. (Catharina was a baker’s daughter.)
Abraham Staats came to New Netherland in 1642. He was the founder of the Staats family of early Albany and its environs.
At the time of his arrival, he was identified as a twenty-four-year-old surgeon employed by the van Rensselaers under a six-year contract. He served as such during the 1640s. During that time, his house was located within Fort Orange and then he was a householder and prominent fur trader in Beverwyck (later Albany). During the 1650s, his nautical skills were employed against the Swedes in what became Delaware.
By the 1660s, he was an officer and member of the Albany Dutch church.
In 1664, Abraham Staats built a house on the Hudson River in Stockport, Columbia County, New York, about 25 miles south of Albany. (This was the second house built on the site. The first house, which was built in 1639 from bricks brought over from Holland, was burned to the ground by Indians.) The house built by Abraham Staats is still standing (although it has been added to and remodeled several times since its original construction in 1664). The house was constructed with stone walls, which are three feet thick.
This house also likely served as a trading post at the foot of Stockton Creek, a strategic spot for
shipping goods in and out of the area. According to one reference, in just one year, Abraham
sent 4,200 beaver skins to New Amsterdam from this location. This stone house is believed to
be the oldest house in Columbia County, and it still stands on the scenic spot near the junction of
Stockton Creek and the Hudson River.
In 1664, Abraham Staats was among those New Netherlanders who took the oath of allegiance to
England. He was listed with Albany householders in 1679. His home was on the east side of
Market and State Streets – south of the brewery. He owned several other parcels in Albany, an
island near Castleton called “Staats Island,” and extensive acreage in the vicinity of Claverack.
He skippered a yacht on the Hudson and served as a magistrate. He also was referred to as
“Major.”
Abraham Staats filed a will in 1683 naming his wife and the then six living children as his heirs.
It passed probate in 1694. His wife survived him by many years.